GASabresIUFan

Ok it's time. Bills jump out to a lead with 28 points mid way through the 3rd qtr to lead by 12 28-16 (3 KC field goals). KC makes a late push, to close to 28- 23, but the Bills drive one more time and Bass kicks a field goal to give the Bills an 8 point lead with 3 minutes left. A fumble on a Groot sack seals the game for the Bills. 31-23.

Last week I avoided pretty much everything about the Ravens/Bills game. I had the earlier game in my mind and hated the matchup. The Bills prevailed. Now this week, we have the opposite problem. We beat the Chiefs (as we tend to do in the regular season), it's hard to beat the same team twice and the Bills just aren't as good on the road. Add the Rapp injury and the Reid/Mahomas/Swift mojo and all signs point to another disappointment. Strangely enough that is giving me optimism and unlike last week, I've been reading about the game (avoiding podcasts again). I think the Bills biggest advantage this week is that they have nothing to lose. The narratives are already written, but unlike in years past the Bills have things they haven't had before in this "big game" 1. They have a dominate running game allowing the Bills to control the tempo of the game. This combines with an Oline that maybe the best in football. Control the clock and keep Josh upright leads to good results. 2. They are mostly healthy on defense. Last year, the Bills D played the entire game with AJ Klein and Dane Jackson playing every snap and no Bernard, Benford or Milano. This year all 3 will be in the lineup plus a healthy Douglas. 3. We don't have any weapons KC can take away. The Bills maybe unique in football. Shakir and Cook are the "best skill players" on offense, but neither is necessary for the Bills to win. The Bills had 13 players catch a TD, 3 different players lead the team in rushing, 5 players lead a game in receptions and 10 different players lead the team in reception yards including all 3 RBs and all the WRs. This is the most balanced, deep and healthy team the Bills bring to the AFC Championship game. It's time.

The TEs, Knox and Kincaid will be the key to the offense. KC is vulnerable to TEs. If I'm reading the stats correctly, KC gave up the most yards to TEs in the regular season at almost 1200 yards.

@Beck Water Thank you for a complete and reasoned response. The bottom line is I'm correct to be worried about a starting combo of Hamlin and Bishop. That doesn't mean they'll ultimately be the reason we lose to KC, but losing Rapp is a major blow to our chances of winning. Personally, I'm actually still bullish on the team Sunday. I think our ball control offense will help limit the defense's exposure and expect a game very similar to what we saw against Balt. The key will be finding at least 3 stops of the KC offense through turnovers and or punting. Without Rapp, those stops maybe have to come from turnovers again.

Never was healthy enough to earn a look. Hamlin was healthier and better from day 1. Maybe Jackson gets elevated and adds that physical game to the secondary.

Is it? Why? How has our defense done this year when our starters have been out in the secondary? When Bishop has played 50% or more of the D snaps, the Bills are 3-3, but in one of the wins the Bills D gave up nearly 500 yards in passing to Det.

Beane hit almost all the right notes this past off-season. McGovern and Edwards instead of Morse and McGovern. Perfect. Letting White go and starting Benford and Douglas, perfect as well. Moving on from Davis and Diggs and ultimately replacing with Cooper and Coleman, not a HR on the field, but it was one in the locker-room and helped free Josh and Brady. The one area that has worried me from Day 1 is safety. Moving on from Poyer and Hyde was also the right thing to do, but now with Rapp out for the biggest game of the year, my off-season worries are back. I started this thread back in Sept. The Off-season gameplan at safety was Rapp plus one of Hamlin, Edwards or Bishop. Now with the season on the brink our starters are Hamlin and the rookie Bishop. Andy Reid and Mahomes must be giddy with excitement. Babich is going to have to find a way to get to Mahomes or Bishop and Hamlin are going to have to play the games of their lives.

Whomever stops KC by getting us off the field on 3rd & 8 in the 3rd qtr.

My first grandchild (a boy) was born on Tuesday before the Ravens game. My daughter very kindly put him in a Bills onesie before kickoff and a new era of Bills football has begun.

Just keep winning and we probably won't have to worry about replacing Brady for at least another year or two.

Easy Allen (AP), Cook (PB), Shakir (2nd in YAC by WRs 2025), Taron Johnson (AP), Dawkins (4 time PB), Brown (1 sack allowed in 2025), Groot, Milano (AP/PB), Benford (top 5 CB according to PFF) and probably Bernard. Cooper is also a 5 time PBer. Also McGovern, Torrence and Edwards have been elite on the interior of the OL all season as well. We may have the best OL in the NFL. McGovern didn't allow a sack or a hit on Josh up the middle this season.

How do you stop the Chiefs? Tonya Harding.

Ball control helps the defense. Ball control also wears down the opposition and hopefully helps put games away. Not sure why it has to be one or the other.

Just some stats: The Bills rushed for more yards than they passed for in 5 games this season. The Bills were 3-2. The Bills are 8-1 in games they throw for 250+. Passing attempts (RS) 520; Rushing 491 TDs (RS) Passing 30; Rushing 32.

My biggest worry for this game is the status of Johnson, Rapp and Benford. We need at least 2/3 to suit up.

By the way folks, the Bills are 15-1 this season when they score 23 or more. The one loss was the crazy LAR game.

And they still scored 27 points and won the game. In fact, against two of the best D in the NFL they’ve averaged 29 points in the playoffs. With a little better play calling against Baltimore they have scored 31. First team in NFL history to score 30 tds running and passing. I don’t really see the KC game being very different than the first 2 playoffs games. I think the biggest difference we’ll see against KC part 2 this season, is an even better rushing attack from the Bills.

It’s not a conservative offense. It’s a power ball control offense with quick strike ability and it should scare the crap out of anyone we play. We can beat you by driving the running game down a team’s throat, but if they load the box we can throw it down the field. The hard part for opponents is that they know the Bills will score 28-30 points regardless of the quality of the defense. Therefore the question is can the opponent’s offense keep up.

Some of the issue(s) with Kincaid is the Bills running game. The increased use of Knox, Gilliam and Anderson to create a more physical running game, has almost certainly cut into his snap count. The relative health of Knox and Kincaid also factored in as did more dropped balls by Kincaid. We as fans also have to get our minds around the fact that the Bills are now a run first team. The strength of this team is the RB room, depth on the OL coupled with Knox and Gilliam. Kincaid is a slot WR/TE who just isn’t as reliable as Shakir and isn’t as physical as Knox. However, don’t read this as an indictment on Kincaid. I really like him and think he has a very bright future in Buffalo. I believe that Brady and Josh want more results from the vertical passing game, but the talent there isn’t fully developed (Kincaid and Coleman). Therefore to play winning football we are out muscling defenses on the line and taking shots when they present themselves. So far so good. Besides Shakir, I also think our best pass catchers are Cook, Davis and Johnson. The added advantage of the running game is the ball control offense that keeps our gash-able defense on the sideline.

Beane and McD (w TP) need to sit down with Brady, give him the $ he wants to re-sign a 2-3 year extension and maintain stability for Josh. The Bills Super Bowl window is now with all the young talent on rookie deals. The last thing Josh needs is a 4th OC. Brady is very young and this will also afford him the perfect time to wait until he finds the ideal HC opportunity with a real QB in place for him to coach. How much more will his HC contract be if he wins a Super Bowl?

Let’s relax and let the games happen. The Bills were out gained but won TOP, turnover battle and the game. KC was also out gained and lost the TOP, and still won. I’ve never seen so many so down about a good win. It wasn’t perfect, but we still beat arguably the most talented team in the league. Who cares what Steven A and others like him say.

Has he? What would his stat line be without Henry? In a key playoff game he committed two turnovers. That doesn’t spell MVP to me.

This was always going to be the worst matchup. Henry is a monster and Lamar a top (but not MVP) QB. We matchup much better against KC, Philly and Wash. All these teams have balance, but can be made one dimensional. The key is to getting off the 3rd down. We really didn’t do that against the Ravens. We also didn’t have our greatest game offensively, but still managed to win. The defense is good enough, just needs to make more plays on 3rd down.

With 3 TOs, 1:30 and getting the ball on the 30, you only need 40-50 yards to get a legit chance. Bills likely get it. Ravens almost certainly sit back on the first few plays and give up 20-25 yards to try to get us to burn TOs in the middle of the field. After that Josh and Shakir and the RBs continue to work and set up the FG to win with 10-15 seconds left.

If the Ravens have 3 guys that blew the game for them they were Jackson, Andrews and Harbaugh. I disagree with almost the whole sequence by the goal line. You needed to score a TD and go win the game. There was way too much time with our gash-able defense to not go up two scores. The FG and game worked out, but not with a ton of luck. I would like to see a significantly larger playbook by the goal line. Why not load up the box and when let Josh bootleg for example if you don’t want to do two straight tush pushes? I understand the FG decision to go up eight, but screwed up to force that decision.